Prescriptions for Opioids Stabilizing After Fivefold Increase in 10-Year Span

Death rates from opioids have been soaring in the U.S. since the 1990s. To support the appropriate use of these controlled substances and inform public health interventions to prevent drug abuse, most states have implemented a prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP). In a latest study, researchers at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health evaluated the impact of these state-wide programs and found that after tripling until 2007, annual rates of prescriptions for opioid analgesics have stabilized although the effects of PDMPs on opioid dispensing vary markedly by state. Findings are published in the March/April issue of Public Health Reports.

From 1991 to 2010 the annual number of prescriptions for opioid analgesics in the U.S. almost tripled, from about 76 million to almost 210 million

“We found that PDMPs administered by state health departments appeared to be more effective than those administered by other government agencies, such as the bureau of narcotics and the board of pharmacy, ” said senior author Guohua Li, MD, DrPH, Mailman School of Public Health professor of Epidemiology and director of the Center for Injury Epidemiology and Prevention.”